


The Bridge

by TruebornAlpha



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Celtic Mythology & Folklore, Childhood Friends, Fae & Fairies, Fairy Tale Elements, Friends to Lovers, M/M, fae Keith
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-05
Updated: 2018-08-05
Packaged: 2019-06-22 05:54:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,497
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15575205
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TruebornAlpha/pseuds/TruebornAlpha
Summary: Shiro has always chased the dancing lights that played in the forest. One day he caught one, and from then on, Keith wouldn't let him go.Written for Bluebells for theHanakotoba Zine.





	The Bridge

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the [Hanakotoba Zine.](https://hanakotobazine.tumblr.com)
> 
> The theme was _Bluebells._ Special thanks to [Khu {khoo8},](https://khoo8.tumblr.com/) and [Stygy {stygy}](http://stygy.tumblr.com) for their fantastic art!
> 
> It was wonderful being part of this project and great working with such talented people!

They built thick walls to keep out the things that lived in the wild woods beyond their open fields. They bound their gates with cold iron and carried pockets of salt. They all knew the warnings: Stay away from the roads that lead to the outside world. Stay away from the woods where magic blooms.

They may have had reason to fear. The Fair Folk could be wicked and cruel. They had a penchant for taking the most beautiful babes or those with the purest of hearts. The few who came back were never the same.

But there was one who didn’t heed the warnings and never feared the world beyond the wall. Shiro pressed his face against the warped glass of his window each night to watch for dancing lights at the forest’s edge. They reminded him of stars, fallen from the heavens to gather under the woods.

One summer night, he snuck out from his home with a daring plan. He crossed the village and the green fields of quiet cows and drowsing sheep, then those imposing walls, and finally the old stone bridge that their forefathers laid to reach the rest of the world. He finally hesitated at the edge of the wood as the shadows deepened between the trees. A single soft light bloomed in the darkness, dancing over the scattered bluebells on the forest floor and Shiro gathered his courage. He unslung his pack and pulled out his glass jar, determined to catch his star.

He chased until his shoes were muddy and sweat drenched his shirt, carefully skirting blooming fairy rings until the moonlight reached its peak and the hidden night glistened like diamonds. Then Shiro pounced, mason jar sliding from clammy fingers, but his aim was true! He caught a star. Its shimmering light spilled into the shadows and his hands tingled with power against the glass.

“Let me go!” Snapped a voice from here and there and everywhere. 

Shiro jumped. “Are you okay? Did I hurt you?”

“Let me go, you big oaf!”

Shiro held the glass up to his face and looked at the angrily blinking light inside. It was too bright to see clearly, fluttering in a tizzy or red and gold. “I didn’t know stars could talk.”

“Star?! I’m no star, I’m Keith.” The light complained, but its anger cooled. A star wasn’t a terrible thing to be, even if this tiny mortal didn’t know true power when he saw it. “I’m one of the sidhe.”

You were supposed to show the Fair Folk the utmost respect, that probably didn’t mean capturing them. The sidhe were known to be tricksy and cruel to those that offended them, even by accident. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t know!”

“Of course not.” The faerie said dismissively, its voice growing sly. Mortals were so easy to trick when they were greedy. “If you let me out, I will grant you your heart’s desire. What is it you want most? Power? Money? I could make you a prince if you asked.”

Shiro frowned and thought hard about what he wanted most in the world, oblivious to the faerie’s trap. “I’d like a friend, if that would be okay?”

“Why do you want one of those?” The voice asked, and Shiro shrugged, suddenly shy.

“Everyone else is afraid.” It was an old excuse, but it was usually good enough. Yet the strange little creature tapped against the glass impatiently, and Shiro’s embarrassment deepened. “It gets lonely sometimes. That’s all.”

He worried the inside of his cheek, before giving in. Shiro carefully undid the lid of the jar. It was too silly a request to make. “Never mind. I’m sorry, um. Fae. I didn’t mean to.”

As soon as it could, the little light raced from its prison, leaving a flurry of sparks so bright Shiro’s vision blurred. Then only the wind was left for company. Shiro sighed, slumping in place. He didn’t know what he’d expected, but the forest seemed so much darker now.

“I’ll be your friend.”

The voice was back, from here and there and everywhere. A little boy stepped out from the trees by the edge of the bridge, walking through the patch of flowers without bending a single stalk. He looked about Shiro’s age, maybe a year or two younger, dressed in patchwork clothes that hung loosely on his thin frame. He could have been human, save for the strange points to the boy’s ears and the sharp gleam to his smile. Even beneath the dirt and rags, he was beautiful.

“Y-you will?”

The boy ginned. “I’ve never had one either.”

Shiro grabbed the boy’s hand, startling the sidhe before he laced their fingers together. “Then I’ll be the best friend you can have.”

It was the most important promise Shiro had ever made.

It was an impossible and forbidden friendship, but Shiro didn’t believe in impossible. They chased dreams and legends, slipping between the shadows and racing against sunlight. They explored hidden groves at the edge of the ocean where selkies sunned themselves on the rocks and merrows splashed in the waves. They snuck into the village with a cloud of pixies, giggling as they played tricks on Shiro’s dour neighbors. Every adventure, they took together.

Fae-touched, they called Shiro. A strange child who grew into an even stranger man, gentle when he should be hard and brave when they were all afraid. They whispered about him loud enough for Shiro to hear. They watched him when he walked by, or ignored him completely, and Shiro never could figure out which was better. He bridged two worlds and belonged to neither, but Keith was his constant, a friend when the rest of the world turned him away. Someone who would always wait for him.

And it was for his gentleness and his bravery that Keith loved him best. Mortals might have warned each other of the dangers of the faeries, but the fae whispered warnings of their own about the pain of mortal love. A human heart was a weapon that could bring an unwary immortal to their knees. Keith just never listened.

Keith wove bluebells together with a deft hand, braiding the delicate flowers together into a crown while Shiro lazed on the warm stones by their secret spot near the bridge. “Am I a prince now?”

“Prince of sheep, maybe.” The sidhe teased. “But now you’re bound to tell me the truth.”

“I always tell you the truth.” Shiro laughed, but when he moved to adjust his crown, even with the tip of his finger, Keith smacked his hand away.

“Mortals are afraid of the sidhe.”

“That’s not really a question.”

“They’re not wrong to be.” Keith smiled and brushed Shiro’s bangs from his forehead. They were already starting to turn white, a sign of the price Shiro’s fragile body paid for their dalliance.

Shiro ducked his head, pleased and embarrassed. “They’re just afraid, of the Fair Folk, of everything outside of the walls.”

“But you’re not afraid?”

“Not of you.” 

“Will you come with me? I can take you away from this place. You’d never have to be afraid again.” Keith asked in a rush. His own loneliness ached like broken glass in his chest at the sudden realization of just how fleeting Shiro’s life could be. Keith had hidden his secret as best as he could, but he could never give Shiro up.

It startled Shiro. Keith didn’t ask often, and asked for much never. For a moment, he couldn’t think straight, distracted by the icy rush that spread from his skull all the way down to the small of his back. He knew as easily as he breathed what he wanted the answer to be. That didn’t make it any more honest.

“I can’t.” Shiro whispered, and the look on Keith’s face was enough to make his heart skip. “This is my home.”

“You’re miserable,” Keith said, a frantic edge slicing through his words. “They’re always so cruel to you.”

“That’s not true, Keith.”

The sidhe’s expression crumbled, but he didn’t back away. Fire still burned in his eyes, and Shiro was helplessly caught in their spell. “But you’re not happy here.”

“I have you. That’s enough.”

He reached up to touch Keith, and Keith leaned closer, hungry and hesitant. It made Shiro’s heart race to think that even the fae could be so nervous sometimes. “One last question.” He whispered, breath ghosting across Shiro’s lips. “Do you love me?”

Sidhe were cold perfection and mortal love burned hotter than anything they could feel on their own. It threatened to consume Keith, sending him tumbling through strange and unfamiliar emotions. He knew this was dangerous, but he couldn’t resist.

For Shiro, it was the easiest question to answer. He crossed that barest of space between them, pressing his lips to Keith’s in a sweet kiss that sparked into a sudden rush of want. His fingers tangled in Keith’s hair as the sidhe pushed him back into the grass, kissing him until they were both breathless and laughing.

“The perfect answer.”

Keith moved in for another kiss when the sound of a hoof striking the ground made the entire earth tremble.

Shiro never understood the threat.

Keith was on his feet in an instant. He snarled at the shadow that crept across the grass, and for a breath, all Shiro could see were the trees. Then there was  _ more _ . Like new lines had been cut through bark and leaf in the shape of a deer but more massive than any mortal had seen, with great branches for horns. They stretched towards the sky, and tangled with the forest.

“No!” Keith snapped, voice sharp like the crack of a whip. “You have no right!”

The wind set the forest swaying, the conductor to an orchestra Shiro would never hear, but Keith did and he was furious. Baleful red eyes glaring at Shiro. Plants bloomed in each of the deer’s footprints, and Keith cursed, throwing himself between the spirit and his best friend.

“It’s not fair! His heart is pure, he’s a good man. He’s my friend and I won’t let you harm him.” He cried, eyes locked with the deer. Darkness spun, blocking the sun. They lasted only an instant. With a snort, the deer turned and was swallowed into the twilight shadows. Keith sagged in broken relief.

“Keith…” Shiro started, reaching out with concern, but Keith sobbed. The spirit had demanded a price for mercy, and it was almost too high.

“I have to go.” He whispered, pulling away from Shiro’s touch. “They don’t trust mortals. It’s the only way to keep you safe.”

“No, you can’t!” Shiro pleaded. “We can find a way to make them understand, we can do this together.” Keith just smiled at him, stealing one last kiss as the flower petals fell from Shiro’s crown.

“I’ll always love you.”  

Shiro never had the chance to say goodbye. That night, Shiro left a bowl of milk and a sweet treat by his window, but for the first time in his young life, it remained untouched the next morning.

Their friendship had been forbidden and falling in love was worse. Keith had risked everything to save him. In the end, Shiro was still alone. Betrayal sat heavily in his stomach but every night, he watched the woods. The villagers still treated him as an outsider, always too strange to ever be one of them, but Shiro held on to hope. He never believed in impossible.

Months passed and life settled into a lonely routine until one night. Inside of the walls of the village, fear had bred like rats. The woods remained quiet and its dancing lights were gone, but that only made the villagers whisper about bad luck and curses.  The quiet rumbling grew to a rallying cry, marching with torches and the scent of violence.  Shiro ran to meet them.

“Be gone, fae-touched. This isn’t a night for your tricks,” one of the mob snarled.

“What’s going on?” He tried to ask, meaning to give chase, but a voice from behind him stopped him in his tracks.

“Pidge has gone missing,” Matt said, watching the procession with hard eyes. “They don’t know who to blame, so they’re blaming who they know.”

“ _ No _ .”

Shiro ran.

The mob marched along the main path, but Shiro knew the forest like the back of his hand. The shadows were his friends. They welcomed him with open arms and raced ahead to show the way. When he found her, she was standing on the crumbling bridge laughing as she pointed beyond the forest to the outside world, surrounded in a cloud of glittering pixies.

“Pidge, what are you doing here! Your family is so worried.” Shiro said, scooping her up in his arms.

“I wanted to see them like you did.” She said stubbornly, and she had Shiro’s eyes. Another strange child who was unafraid of the world, and hope surged through him for his people.

“We have to go back. They’re looking for you.” He murmured, carrying her away as she complained, reaching back for the dancing pixies who waved goodbye.

“But they’re my friends!” Pidge wailed, her sounds of distress drawing the other villagers to them.

“She’s safe!” They cried, taking her from Shiro’s arms while others waved their torches at the pixies who shrieked and disappeared. “Burn the forest! Destroy the bridge, don’t let anyone in.”

“They were protecting her!” Shiro argued, but their fear was too great and their hammers strong. “I won’t let you hurt them!”

Even if Keith was gone and the fae forbidden, he would protect this place. He beat back the villagers, snatching torches from startled hands and driving them back.

Stone began to crack, lost as Shiro fought off another villager, seeing nothing but fear and revulsion in faces he’d known his whole life. Jagged metal and singed flesh wrote a horrid symphony. His entire side bloomed with pain. He could not feel his right hand.

He never heard the shifting stone, or the slow slide of weakened earth. The bluebells were ringing, their sounds as clear as first kiss of moonlight, and as the bridge crumbled, Shiro fell far. Right before he closed his eyes, there was light, like the glow of a star.

It took three days to find him atop a bed of stone, cradled safely like a child, not a hair out of place or a speck of dust on his clothes. Around his brow was a crown of bluebells.

They ran, just as the bells chimed.

But he was not forgotten. As she grew, Pidge recalled the man who had never been caged by fear. She followed his footsteps into the forest, repairing the bridge stone by stone. She crossed the woods and went into the world, unafraid, leaving the path for others to find it.

And at night, two lights danced in the darkness to lead the way.

**Author's Note:**

> You can find Dans [here.](http://itdans.tumblr.com/)  
> Rune's tumblr is [here](http://runicscribbles.tumblr.com/) and our joint twitter is [here.](http://twitter.com/runicscribbles)
> 
> Please comment if you enjoyed! Come say hello. :)


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